June 26-July 2
China
China celebrated the 35th International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The Supreme People’s Court released 10 typical cases involving drug abuse and illegal trafficking. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate held a news conference to warn against new types of drugs being seen on the market and their physical and societal harms, and issued a number of drug-related guiding cases. The Ministry of Public Security updated drug-related statistics, including: 2.58 million drug users were registered with police as of last April.
The Cyberspace Administration of China released regulations that require internet users to provide truthful information when registering online accounts. The Provisions on the Management of Internet User Account Information (互联网用户账号信息管理规定) take effect August 1. An unofficial translation is available here (paywalled).
The market regulator in Guangzhou has fined the US company Procter & Gamble 700,000 RMB ($104,595) in administrative penalties for claiming in a social media promotion that women’s foot odor is “five times worse than men’s.” The regulator said the ad violated the Advertising Law.
Hong Kong
Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping inaugurated John Lee as Hong Kong’s new chief executive during a short visit marking the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain to China. It was Xi’s first visit to Hong Kong since 2017, and his first trip outside mainland China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Police searched the homes of six members of the League of Social Democrats, one of the last pro-democracy groups active in Hong Kong, ahead of the anniversary and warned them not to stage protests. The Hong Kong Journalists Association expressed regret that authorities barred at least 10 journalists from covering the July 1 flag-raising and Lee’s inauguration ceremony for “security reasons.”
The District Court sentenced a 2019 protester to 43 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to rioting and violating the city’s anti-mask law. Derek Chan, a kitchen manager, was filmed picking up a brick at a protest in Wan Chai while wearing a gas mask on October 6, 2019, a day after the enactment of a law banning face coverings.
Japan
Japan’s Supreme Court ordered Twitter to delete a tweet about a man’s trespassing arrest a decade ago, lowering the previously high hurdle for deleting online personal information that was established by the court in 2017. The court said deletions were possible when protection of privacy was more important than providing search results.
Action for Safe Abortion Japan obtained 82,000 signatures on a petition it submitted to the health ministry demanding the end of the spousal consent rule for abortions. The United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended Japan remove the requirement in the Maternal Health Law.
The Tokyo District Court rejected the lawsuit of a sex business operator who was denied a government COVID-19 relief grant. The only other entities excluded from the government grant program have been local governments, political organizations, and religious groups. The plaintiff immediately appealed and said the court ruling inappropriately legitimized discrimination against the sex industry.
The government is planning to ask the Diet to revise the Infectious Diseases Law to impose penalties on designated hospitals that refuse to accept patients with new infectious diseases. The government argues that a lack of cooperation by hospitals during a wave of COVID-19 cases last year resulted in insufficient hospital beds to meet the need.
Koreas
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether the National Assembly has the power to strip the Supreme Prosecutors Office of powers given to it by the constitution. In April and May 2022, during the final weeks of the Moon Jae-in presidency, the legislature dominated by Moon’s Democratic Party passed a series of laws that shifted the power to prosecute most crimes to the police, away from prosecutors. A new president, Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party, took office in May.
South Korea’s Supreme Court cleared Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung of unethical hiring charges. Cho had been accused of accepting requests from lawmakers and company executives to recruit their children while he was CEO of Shinhan Bank. The company still faces similar charges.
South Korean prosecutors granted former President Lee Myung-bak a three-month release from prison due to poor health after he served less than three years of a 17-year sentence for corruption. Lee, who is 80, was president from 2008-2013. He previously was mayor of Seoul and CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction. While serving his prison term, he has regularly received outside hospital treatment for various health problems including diabetes.
Taiwan
The Constitutional Court heard oral arguments in a dispute over who qualifies for legal recognition as an indigenous group. A number of indigenous communities in western Taiwan who are collectively called the Pingpu peoples have been struggling both in and out of courts for decades to obtain legal recognition, but the official Council of Indigenous Peoples has rejected them on the grounds that too little of their original culture remains. With reference to a lawsuit by one of the Pingpu groups, the Constitutional Court has been asked by the Taipei High Administrative Court to interpret Article 2 of the Status Act For Indigenous Peoples (原住民身份法) .